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After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

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Ladies and Gents, the Nation’s Worst Teacher

A teacher in Fairfield, Ohio has been suspended and (I would hope) likely to be fired after allegedly making racist remarks to a black student. And it turns out that this teacher has a long history of warnings and infractions and some of his former students are speaking out.

Monday, the Fairfield Board of Education suspended science teacher Gil Voigt. He has 10 days to request a hearing before the school board or a referee.

Voigt, who is white, is accused of telling an African-American male student, “We do not need another black president” after the student said he would like to become president.

The incident occurred on Dec. 3, with several other students present, according to a report from Assistant Superintendent Roger Martin, who conducted a disciplinary hearing on the matter.

And there’s his track record, which suggests these allegations are true:

It isn’t the first time the 14-year Fairfield teacher has been disciplined. He received a verbal warning for making an inappropriate racial comment in 2008. That year he also received a verbal warning for improper use of school technology.

Last year he received a verbal warning after allegedly calling a student “stupid” and belittling him. He received a written warning last month for failure to use the adopted curriculum.

Four other students confirmed that he said what he is accused of saying. And in the comments, two of his former students said this was pretty normal for him:

I was one of this man’s students and I absolutely could not tolerate him. Not only would he disrespect me, he tormented students, belittled them and their academic levels, blatantly blamed them for their misunderstanding of his conduct and was utterly disrespectful to me, my friends and other students through his actions and behavior. Any teacher who upon meeting tells the student’s mother “I see where she gets her good looks from” and promptly makes that parent uncomfortable should be held accountable for those responses.

And to think in Texas, I got in trouble for high-fiving some of my students the day after President Obama was elected. A fundi little girl complained to her mother, who complained to the principal that I was being blatant about who I had voted for in front of her child.
And, I had a sweet mixed-race student who had been telling me that he was going to be the first black president since he was a freshman. He would always ask me if I would vote for him, and my reply was an enthusiastic “Yes”. After that election day, he was a bit deflated. I told him that he might be the second, or better yet, the tenth black president, and that I hoped that by that time the color of his skin wouldn’t be a factor.
He gave me a big hug for that.
I felt so much pride in that sweet, optimistic boy and I felt so sorry for the fundi little girl who was growing up steeped in hate.